Hardware Review: HyperX Cloud II Headset

September 28, 2015 / 8:29 PM

By: Zack O'Neill

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HyperX’s latest headset, the Cloud II, has been out for several months now, so it’s already gotten plenty of coverage. It’s no secret that this is a good headset, but for those of you who may be out of the loop and looking for a new headset for gaming, allow me to recommend this for whatever gaming purposes you may have.

Possibly the most enticing thing about the Cloud II is the fact that it features 7.1 virtual surround sound. At the $100 price point, I would definitely say it more affordable than an actual surround sound setup, and while it may not be perfect, it offers a lot for what you’re paying. I’ve tested it out in a few games such as Left 4 Dead 2, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Mad Max, The Witcher 3, and Team Fortress 2. In each of these games I got fantastic results; I could clearly hear everything and the exact direction that the sounds were coming from.

You are able to turn off the surround feature if you feel like it, by using the small remote that the audio cable routes through to transfer to a USB port. The remote also allows you to easily adjust microphone and playback volume. Unfortunately I’m not able to do any kind of video to give you an example of the sound quality, because that would all depend on the hardware, and I can’t exactly just put this headset on you to give you a listen.

Additionally is the microphone, which has about the quality you would expect from this kind of mic. It’s good enough for online gaming or communicating over skype, but I wouldn’t recommend using it for podcasting or audio recording. To give you an example of how it sounds, I’ve recorded the following audio sample for your listening pleasure.

Not exactly incredible quality, but it does what it needs to. The strange thing I noticed was that the mic quality was a lot worse on my laptop than it was on my desktop. I’m not entirely sure why that would be, and I’ve tried messing around with it on my laptop to see if I could fix it, but it’s adamant about sounding terrible when being used on there. The playback quality is still clear as day on it though, and if you have a laptop with an integrated mic, then you probably don’t need to use the headset mic if you experience the same issue.

As a nice bonus, the microphone is removable from the headphones, and they come with a cover for the port so you don’t get dust in there when you just want to sit there with some nice headphones.

I’ve also tested the headset on PS4, as it is compatible with consoles as well, and there is absolutely no drop in audio quality having it plugged into the Dualshock 4. As far as I can tell, you can’t use the surround sound feature on consoles, but the basic sound that you get while plugged into the PS4 controller works very well for a headset.

One of the most important things about a headset, though, is to know if it’s comfortable. I can confirm that the Cloud II is one of the most comfortable headsets I’ve had the pleasure of wearing. The name really does fit it, it feels like a cloud, like I’m barely wearing a headset at all. I’m wearing it as I’m typing this and it’s extremely comfortable to wear over my ears. I can’t complain about the look of the headset either, it’s very aesthetically pleasing and doesn’t make me look like a total idiot.

All in all, I’d say this headset is very well worth it for the $100 it’s sold for. If you can find it, give it a shot.

About the author /

Zack started working at VGTribune at 15 years old and has been gaming since the the age of 2. He is currently in college studying film and technology with plans to continue in the game industry. He’s also really good at Counter Strike.